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Eels' lack of teamwork a worry for Arthur

3 minute read

Parramatta coach Brad Arthur is concerned the Eels didn't play as a team as they crumbled under strong Manly defence in their second loss of the NRL season.

Eels head coach BRAD ARTHUR
Eels head coach BRAD ARTHUR Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

Brad Arthur knew an emotional performance was coming from Manly but he didn't see Parramatta's lack of teamwork in their 28-6 loss on Sunday.

The Eels coach was fuming after the team was blown off the park by the Sea Eagles, who had earlier learned of the death of club legend Bob Fulton.

On top of the emotion of the day, the victory gave the Sea Eagles genuine premiership credentials but exposed the Eels in just their second loss of the season.

Parramatta had the lion's share of the possession (57 per cent) and 63 per cent of the territory, as well as more run metres, more runs and more post-contact metres - but Manly's defence was too good.

"I'm concerned that we turned up like that today, yeah," Arthur said after the game.

"We knew that (Manly would be emotional), we couldn't dwell on it.

"We just needed to worry about what we needed to do. But we didn't do anything we wanted to do.

"I don't feel like we played as a team tonight.

"We looked like we were off the pace. They chased the collision more than us, they looked like they had more energy."

The Sea Eagles exposed defensive lapses on the Eels right edge, where they ran in three tries in the first half.

Centre Waqa Blake had a particularly miserable night, finishing up in the sin bin for a high shot on Karl Lawton.

Prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard was also put on report and sin-binnned for a high shot and both will be anxiously waiting on the NRL's charge sheet on Monday morning.

But with South Sydney looming next week, the Eels will go through a careful review into Sunday's loss.

"We need to definitely have a look if there's reasons why, from every part of our week, the preparation or whatever," he said.

"We need to have a look at it.

"But once we've done the review we need to move on pretty quick and get ready to go again."

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